Converting NSString to NSDate (and back again)

Question

How would I convert an NSString like "01/02/10" (meaning 1st February 2010) into an NSDate? And how could I turn the NSDate back into a string?

Answer 1

Why not add a category to NSString?

// NSString+Date.h
@interface NSString (Date)
+ (NSDate*)stringDateFromString:(NSString*)string;
+ (NSString*)stringDateFromDate:(NSDate*)date;
@end


// NSString+Date.m
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc]init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss ZZZ"];

NSDate *date = [dateFormatter dateFromString:stringDate ];
[dateFormatter release];
+ (NSDateFormatter*)stringDateFormatter
{
    static NSDateFormatter* formatter = nil;
    if (formatter == nil)
    {
        formatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
        [formatter setDateFormat:@"EEE, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss ZZZ"];
    }   
    return formatter;
}

+ (NSDate*)stringDateFromString:(NSString*)string
{
    return [[NSString stringDateFormatter] dateFromString:string];
}

+ (NSString*)stringDateFromDate:(NSDate*)date
{
    return [[NSString stringDateFormatter] stringFromDate:date];
}


// Usage (#import "NSString+Date.h") or add in "YOUR PROJECT".pch file
NSString* string = [NSString stringDateFromDate:[NSDate date]];
NSDate* date = [NSString stringDateFromString:string];

Answer 2

NSString *dateStr = @"Tue, 25 May 2010 12:53:58 +0000";

// Convert string to date object
NSDateFormatter *dateFormat = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormat setDateFormat:@"EE, d LLLL yyyy HH:mm:ss Z"];
NSDate *date = [dateFormat dateFromString:dateStr]; 
[dateFormat release];

Answer 3

Swift 4 and later

Updated: 2018

String to Date

var dateString = "02-03-2017"
var dateFormatter = DateFormatter()

// This is important - we set our input date format to match our input string
// if the format doesn't match you'll get nil from your string, so be careful
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"

//`date(from:)` returns an optional so make sure you unwrap when using. 
var dateFromString: Date? = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString)

Date to String

var formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
guard let unwrappedDate = dateFromString else { return }

//Using the dateFromString variable from before. 
let stringDate: String = formatter.string(from: dateFromString)

Swift 3

Updated: 20th July 2017

String to NSDate

var dateString = "02-03-2017"
var dateFormatter = DateFormatter()
// This is important - we set our input date format to match our input string
// if the format doesn't match you'll get nil from your string, so be careful
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
var dateFromString = dateFormatter.date(from: dateString)

NSDate to String

var formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
let stringDate: String = formatter.string(from: dateFromString)

---

Swift

Updated: 22nd October 2015

String to NSDate

var dateString = "01-02-2010"
var dateFormatter = NSDateFormatter()
// this is imporant - we set our input date format to match our input string
dateFormatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
// voila!
var dateFromString = dateFormatter.dateFromString(dateString)

NSDate to String

var formatter = NSDateFormatter()
formatter.dateFormat = "dd-MM-yyyy"
let stringDate: String = formatter.stringFromDate(NSDate())
println(stringDate)

---

Objective-C

NSString to NSDate

NSString *dateString = @"01-02-2010";
NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy"];
NSDate *dateFromString = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];

NSDate convert to NSString:

NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd-MM-yyyy"];
NSString *stringDate = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:[NSDate date]];
NSLog(@"%@", stringDate);

Answer 4

NSString to NSDate or NSDate to NSString

//This method is used to get NSDate from string 
//Pass the date formate ex-"dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm a"
+ (NSDate*)getDateFromString:(NSString *)dateString withFormate:(NSString *)formate  {

    // Converted date from date string
    NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [dateFormatter setLocale:[[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US"]];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:formate];
    NSDate *convertedDate         = [dateFormatter dateFromString:dateString];
    return convertedDate;
}

//This method is used to get the NSString for NSDate
//Pass the date formate ex-"dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm a"
+ (NSString *)getDateStringFromDate:(NSDate *)date withFormate:(NSString *)formate {

    // Converted date from date string
    NSDateFormatter *dateFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    //[dateFormatter setLocale:[[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en_US"]];
    [dateFormatter setDateFormat:formate];
    NSString *convertedDate         = [dateFormatter stringFromDate:date];
    return convertedDate;
}

Answer 5

When using fixed-format dates you need to set the date formatter locale to "en_US_POSIX".

Taken from the Data Formatting Guide

If you're working with fixed-format dates, you should first set the locale of the date formatter to something appropriate for your fixed format. In most cases the best locale to choose is en_US_POSIX, a locale that's specifically designed to yield US English results regardless of both user and system preferences. en_US_POSIX is also invariant in time (if the US, at some point in the future, changes the way it formats dates, en_US will change to reflect the new behavior, but en_US_POSIX will not), and between platforms (en_US_POSIX works the same on iPhone OS as it does on OS X, and as it does on other platforms).

Swift 3 or later

extension Formatter {
    static let customDate: DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
        formatter.dateFormat = "dd/MM/yy"
        return formatter
    }()
    static let time: DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "en_US_POSIX")
        formatter.dateFormat = "HH:mm"
        return formatter
    }()
    static let weekdayName: DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = "cccc"
        return formatter
    }()
    static let month: DateFormatter = {
        let formatter = DateFormatter()
        formatter.dateFormat = "LLLL"
        return formatter
    }()
}

---

extension Date {
    var customDate: String {
        return Formatter.customDate.string(from: self)
    }
    var customTime: String {
        return Formatter.time.string(from: self)
    }
    var weekdayName: String {
        return Formatter.weekdayName.string(from: self)
    }
    var monthName: String {
        return Formatter.month.string(from: self)
    }
}

extension String {
    var customDate: Date? {
        return Formatter.customDate.date(from: self)
    }
}

---

usage:

// this will be displayed like this regardless of the user and system preferences
Date().customTime          //  "16:50"
Date().customDate          //  "06/05/17"
// this will be displayed according to user and system preferences
Date().weekdayName         //  "Saturday"
Date().monthName           //  "May"

---

Parsing the custom date and converting the date back to the same string format:

let dateString = "01/02/10"

if let date = dateString.customDate {
    print(date.customDate)   // "01/02/10\n"
    print(date.monthName)    // customDate
}

Here it is all elements you can use to customize it as necessary:

Answer 6

Use this method to convert from NSString to NSdate:

-(NSDate *)getDateFromString:(NSString *)pstrDate
{
    NSDateFormatter* myFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [myFormatter setDateFormat:@"dd/MM/yyyy"];
    NSDate* myDate = [myFormatter dateFromString:pstrDate];
    return myDate;
}